Unusual Dangers, III

Ren prostrated himself to me.

What a sad thing to witness.

As if he's worshiping me like a God.

As if I brought salvation upon him, what a poor soul.

Many people would've basked and loved the sense of superiority at this moment, but it wasn't the same for me.

Instead, I was disgusted. I am just a simple human being with no backbone.

I may seem confident and not scared of anything, but it is wrong. My acting, my speaking, my behaving, they're all things I formulate so people don't take notice of my rotten self.

"Stand up, Ren," I held his body and supported him with what half power I had myself, "Don't do that, you shouldn't fall to your knees for me. It is only obvious that I save you, we're comrades, right?" I tried to muster the gentlest smile possible for me.

"Now, let's rest and get better, we still have a long way off, after all." He accepted what I said and soon after we got a move on.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The electronic watch strapped on Luke's wrist rang, obviously, everyone knew why. It is the Grendel's spawn time.

"Shit… this is the worst time possible." I frowned, "We must hide! I cannot fight in my current state!" I informed them.

We were running, sprinting, dashing, rushing, anything you may call related to running, we were doing so.

That monster is powerful, more powerful than any other monster I had seen while living in Crisyes, besides the dragon.

Just what are these Grendels and all?! Impatience got to me, leading to anger.

If I had to give this monster a rank from Crisyes, then it would either be A-Rank or S-rank.

SSS-Rank is the highest on the board of monsters found to exist in the whole of Crisyes. So, being just two leagues lower didn't mean that it is any weaker. No, after all, it surpasses ranks: E, D, C, B, and A.

This monster has immense agility and quite the brutal strength. One punch from it sent me dozens of meters away just earlier.

The moment the watch stopped ringing the whole forest became quiet.

Everything in this ecosystem knew that the boss is here. Just like the teacher acts differently when the principal enters the class, or when the boss enters the employees' office.

Making a noise equaled being killed and probably eaten.

But why did this monster also have such regenerative abilities? I asked myself again, agitated at how its arm was about to be attached five hours ago, but instead, it made one last effort to hurt or kill one of us.

***

It has been three minutes since the activation time. It seems the monster may have appeared at our former base, but I shouldn't underestimate it, after all, everyone knows what happened earlier today.

We are currently hiding in a bunch of bushes intertwined together. It doesn't matter if we get cuts all over our body since getting a scrape or two is better than losing your whole life.

I sat cross-legged and began meditating, as it is one of the best forms to stay unmoving and breathe calmly.

I noticed Sean was doing the same, and across a bush, Luke began imitating us, even if he couldn't feel the mana anymore, he still tried.

We were scattered all over the massive shrubbery in a radius of ten meters because of how many people our group numbered.

***

It has been another two minutes since the activation time.

The jungle still has that eerie silence etched into it, and so was our group quiet.

After meditating for five minutes now, I am already feeling much better by the constant flow of mana circulating in and outside of my body.

***

There's only one minute left for the Grendel to disappear, I had to confirm something.

"Hmph," I stood up from my former place, got out in the open, and began yelling, "Oi, mister Grendel, we're here in this place, come get us if you can! Or are you a loser?"

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Luke panicked.

"Don't worry, just stay there, I have a plan," I smirked, and in the next instant side-stepped cleanly to my left.

Boom.

The trees shook from the impact, and so did I feel the vibration reaching me from the ground.

"Quite fast on your feet, aren't ya?" I took hold of Sean's dagger that I stole back on the second floor and tried cutting him off.

"Tch, of course you evade it! How about this?" I clenched the blade's hilt the opposite way and quickly turned three-hundred-sixty-degrees, trying to stab him from behind.

"Grah!" The human-gorilla pulled his body back, just barely getting scraped by the tip of my blade.

"Hmph!" It tried punching me with its right arm, the one Mai had severed earlier. Scarcely, I managed to lower its impact on me by pulling my katana and positioning it vertically between us.

I skidded two meters back from the sheer power I had to stop.

The katana dropped from my shivering hands, and I looked at it once more, "Even though I'm seeing you for the third time, I don't know if you're the same one or another," I spat.

"Krah!" It growled once more as it made its way towards me, the very instant the blow was about to land, he disappeared.

"Pfft, how nostalgic, just like our first encounter…" I mumbled.

"Helis, why did you just act by yourself like that?!" Mai began nagging me.

"Agh, I just wanted to confirm if it was the very same monster we fought in the morning, that's all!"

After that, we continued our journey in a straight line, without any answers and without confirming anything either.

We walked, walked, and walked, and three hours later we were met with some ruins.

We entered it. Scripts were written all around the walls. We entered a chamber and what I saw left me flabbergasted.

The thing drawn and written on the ground was in Crisyes' Ancient Language and Alphabet, "Is this a Teleporting Magic Circle?"